Studio Mixer for under $1000?

[bhuether]

Til now I have gotten by with a Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro. I record guitar through a Lynx2 and do my mixing through Mackie HR824s. I record with a Royer R121 mic through a Great River 1NV. I want to upgrade the mixer. I need something that runs 120-240V, 50-60 Hz. It needs to have as transparent as possible a channel insert so that I can go from the mic preamp output, to the mixer, and then to the Lynx. I don't want a mixer that will introduce degradation to the Great River preamp output. I do it this way because as I am recording I like to monitor myself without having to use software monitoring.

I have been reading about the Mackie Onyx line but wanted to see what is recommended for my purpose.

thanks,

Brian

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I record guitar through a Lynx2 and do my mixing through Mackie HR824s. I record with a Royer R121 mic through a Great River 1NV.

Brian,

The way you describe it, it sounds like you only recording two channels at a time, maximum. In which case you have no real need for the mixer that I can see. Especially with the gear you already have (Royer --> Great Rriver --> Lynx), that Mackie mixer is probably actually doing little more than unnecessarily lengthening your signal chain at best, and possibly bottlenecking your signal quality at best.

As far as the dual 120V/240V voltage capability, you can just get a separate step-down power converter and plug your 120V gear into that when you need to run off of 220/240. You just gotta be careful you get a converter designed to accept 50hz; some of them are meant for US only conversion from 220/60 to 110/60. You can get a decent converter for anywhere from $20 to $60, depending upon how much wattage capacity you wish to support.

G.

 

[bhuether]

Well, I record acoustic as well and have various mics and various preamps. So I just have the wires all preconfigured so I don't have to keep messing with cables. So though I only do 2 channels at a time, I tend to have wires set up for 4 mics.

thanks,

brian

 

[Yonce N Mild]

I do it this way because as I am recording I like to monitor myself without having to use software monitoring.

I can totally understand that. I hate messing with software input monitoring.

In your case what about splitting the signal out of the pre and sending it to a headphone amp? That way you can keep a clean path(except for the splitter) to your sound card.

 

[bhuether]

What role would the headphone amp play? And wouldn't the splitter degrade the signal? I tried a splitter once and the splitter must have introduced attenuation because the signal became much weaker.

Maybe I used the wrong type of splitter. I suppose the best possible, transparent splitter would do the trick.

thanks,

Brian

 

[Yonce N Mild]

What role would the headphone amp play?

I assumed you were monitoring with headphones while tracking.

I tried a splitter once and the splitter must have introduced attenuation because the signal became much weaker.

Maybe I used the wrong type of splitter. I suppose the best possible, transparent splitter would do the trick.

thanks,

Brian

I'm not sure what the options are with splitters. I only use them with guitars to do a direct out and amp at the same time.

Although after hearing how you work I'm not sure that solution would be best for you.


Sounds to me like you need a high quality mixer. Not sure how to help you there because my broke ass never looks at "expensive stuff".


Maybe a good patchbay would help?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I might recommend using a simple patch bay. For a hundred bucks you can have more than enough switching to be able to route whatever you want to the Lynx with virtually no degradation - especially when compared to using a full-blown mixer. And you can configure it as you wish to be able to normal the signal to a headphone amp (or device with a headphone amp built in). A basic Nutrik or dbx patch bay or anything like that should do you just fine.

The Mackie Onyx mixers are perfectly good mid-range, small-format mixers. If you *had* to get one, you could do a lot worse than an Onyx. And I own a Mackie VLZ myself, so I am not anti-Mackie. But honestly, with your signal chain, I would not want to insert any inexpensive mixer in line unless absolutely necessary. Not that it'll kill anybody or anything; I'm sure your current setup sounds good. But I'm a fan of keep it short and simple. Especially when you have the grade of gear you already have.

G.